Astaroth
Astaroth (Large Hydralisk) is hands-down the easiest Prime Evil to play, but take note, ALL PRIME EVILS are VETERAN ROLES. Asta is almost always played in a death-ball fashion consisting of Asta himself, Abaddon, Berith and Flayed. The effectiveness of the death ball relies on the survival of Abbadon and constant assistance of other Hell forces as the death ball is very mobile. Astaroth's main job is attacking right side and to act as the hero killer of Hell. Abbadon is a main source of your power, do not let her die in vain. Units Heroes *Astaroth *Abaddon *Berith Elite Units *Flayed *Fallen *Forgotten Strategy Early Game Unload the nydus and hotkey Asta, Abba, and Flayed to a control group. Proceed to destroy the tanks on your side with the high ground vision Abba grants you with her Imposing Height ability. (Optional: After the tanks are removed, proceed to add Berith to the control group.) You are now free to roam the map as you please. Use razor swarm to dislodge troublesom angels from their fortified positions and quickly move in on heroes to deal damage BEFORE using fungal growth if you can to increase the amount of damage you deal and a more successful snipe. If Berith is in the control group, this will be a much more powerful combination as 1000 base damage coupled with immobilization is a force to reckoned with. Use caution around Duma , however, as Duma is the bane of Astaroth's forces as they lack a force field breaker in the form of massive units and the loss of Abbadon will be a severe blow to the effectiveness of the death ball. Mid Game Mid game is after Heaven's Gate has fallen. Astaroth should start attacking the Enclave and should attack from middle or the bridge. When attacking on the bridge, make sure to have vision in the middle and have your forgotten and fallen gaurd the rear. Be wary of Jehoel's Pain Train as it can easily trap you on the bridge and will often cause Abbadon to die. Be wary of Duma as well when you are on the bridge and always know where Jehoel is. To destroy the enclave, use your deathball to attack but retreat when the enemy moves to attack you. If Michael is alone, send berith in to attack him then use fungal growth to ensure the kill. If you can, ask Devil to help you out with Mammon and the Behemoths. A darkswarm on the enclave with Mammon can quickly take it down unless Jehoel or Predators are present. Astaroth's death ball should also focus on killing heroes around Benediction and the citadel. Use Berith, Fungal Growth, and your Deathball to attack snipe lone heroes. If berith is already next to the hero when you fungal, it is usually a kill. Always run from Duma and Messiah unless you know you are safe or you can successfully kill Duma. Duma is the bane of your existance and some well placed Forcefields will ensure your destruction. Late Game When late game comes around and you still have all your heroes, then good job!. Usually, you should aim your Nydus toward the Throne from the right side. Use Abbadon's abilty to see up cliffs to destroy the Siege Tanks and missle turrets gaurding the Biological Heal. Don't forget about your Fallen and Forgotton and bring them closer to the front. If an enemy army tries to attack you with a lesser force, surround them with Fallen and go in for the kill. Forgotton can move while burrowed and pop up to disorient the enemy. Use this chance to attack and encircle with Fallen to destroy armies. Fallen however, do not work well against Uriel or Metatron . When you are attacking the raised platform where the throne sits, try and get a Dark Swarm so you can utilize Fallen and advance onward. Use your deathball to slowly kill enemy units and do not let Heroes or Units heal at the spot. Through in Fallen under Dark Swarm or if the timer is very close to God's Arrival. So God has come, what now? Relax, God does not mean you will lose. Always aim your Nydus toward God and remake it quickly if it goes down. If you have your heroes, you can help take down God. Because of God's high armor, Flayed only do 1 damage per hit, so they are almost completely ineffective. Only attack under Dark Swarm as God's attack will quickly kill Abbadon and Astaroth. The most effective dps that Astaroth has against God is Astaroth's poison, so if God is alone, try to have Astaroth hit him once while he's still far away for the poison to have maximum effect, and can continue to repeat this whenever the poison runs out. When God tries to run away, use Fungal Growth to stop him. Your teammates will help you attack God and try to take him down. If God starts singling out your Heroes outside of Dark Swarm, run away. Astaroth's Poison goes through God's armor and can whittle down his life quicker than you would expect. Do not use Fallen or Forgotten against God as they cannot hit air and will just follow him around. Use Fallen and Forgotten if armies are brought with God to surround the enemy armies. Note that Fallen do not work well against Ophans splash attack. Tips from Graffix! I wrote the above strategy a long time ago when I may have been a noob player. Now that I have gotten better, here are tips to help your Asta play. #Vision OP. Use burrowed roaches to gain vision as they can move while burrowed so you can put them in position and move them around without being spotted. Do not bring them so close to occupoed cliffs as most cliffs have photon cannons or missle turrets to detect. #Creeeeeep. Creep is a vital role for any prime evil. Every one moves faster on creep and mobility can make or break a kill. Being able to run away fast always helps. Creep is especially important for your mass as it increases their speed and their attack speed. Increase speed allows your mass to deal more damage in a lesser time and get to where they need to go faster. Abba is extremely slow off creep. #I realized that the strategy above is very reliant on keeping all of your heroes alive. Your heroes should stay alive but if they don't there are ways around it. #*If Abba dies, it will be a lot harder to get hero kills because fungal is lost. Bring an overseer with your ball to gain vision up cliffs. Be cautious around ganks as you can no longer stun enemies and make your getaway. #*If Asta dies, your death ball will lose damage but berith and Abba can still kill heroes if they are accompanied by Flayed. #*If Berith dies, your death ball will still work, but it may not always kill the hero. #*All of them dead? If your heroes are all dead, you have to utilize your elites well and make sure to use fallen as much as you can without losing the majority of them. # Keeping your heroes alive! #*Burrow! Burrow forces heaven to use scans to find you. Abba has an OP passive of deep burrow which means that everyone around her must be dead for her to be targeted directly. This means that all the mass above her needs to die unless Heaven is using Uri or Sand who have splash attacks. #*Always have fallen at the ready to come in a save your ass. Fallen can come in and force Heaven to retreat and can soak up damage instead of having your heroes take it. #*Run from Duma. Many veteran Messiah players actively use duma to trap your deathball in FF's. Staying away from duma ensures safety. However, if Dev DS's and brings in his Behemoths and Mammon, go in. Mammon can break forcefields and the use of your death ball can ensure the kill of someone out of DS or flying(Mess, Nate, Raph, perhaps God). #*Covering your rear. If your death ball is on the right side bridge, make sure to have vision around any paths that can be used to flank you. Vision is crucial to know when to retreat or if you are safe. Position your Fallen and Forgotten to be able to unburrow at a moments notice to attack an incoming pain train or to help you kill it. #Use of Fallen #*Fallen are some of the fastest units in the game. Utilize this to help get where they need to go or flank. #*They are melee! Use them under ds to help out Dev where ever it is. #*Flanking. Flank your enemies with fallen to trap them. Use the especially when they are stuck in a corridor or small passage way and the other side is an approaching army from Hell. Trapping and Flanking combined with DS and Mammon can eliminate armies. #*Trapping. If there is a small group of units or a lone ground hero that isnt jeho, meta, uri, or sand, use fallen to trap and eliminate them. Sera walking around by herself can easily by overrun and killed by your group of fallen. Duma can also be killed if she is walking around alone. #*Fallen are easily beat by Sand, Uri, Firebats, Ophans, and Meta. These units all have splash attacks that can hurt many fallen at once. Be careful around zad too!. Zad has splash all around him that can kill many fallen.